Fewer euro coins

Why we are so afraid of the end of cash

Do you prefer to pay in cash or by card?

(Bild: Goodpics - stock.adobe.com)

We've all been there: You can only pay in cash at the tobacconist, the café or the fruit stand, often running through the city for minutes before you find an ATM. But why are there fewer and fewer of them, even though we, the Austrians, are so happy to pay with cash? Why will fewer coins be produced in future? And why are we so attached to cash?

"Good luck trying to pay with cash!" That was the answer I got when I asked a friend how much money I should change for my visit to him in Gothenburg, Sweden. And sure enough, for four days I was able to pay for everything with my ATM card or even my smartphone. Shortly after this vacation, I was in London on business, and here too: The coffee in the morning, the newspaper at the tobacconist, postcards and stamps at the street stall, even the tip for the street musician - for all this and more I only needed to pull out my cell phone for a moment.

Back home, everything is different: "Cash only" is written in big red letters at the entrance to many cafés and pubs, and in a number of places it is only possible to pay by card from a certain amount. If you know this, you can withdraw money in advance. But where? In Klagenfurt, I'm currently not only looking for presents, but also an ATM. And even in the middle of Vienna's first district, I recently had to spend almost fifteen minutes looking for an ATM - on the way I found one that had run out of cash and another that charged a five euro withdrawal fee.

This is why there are fewer and fewer ATMs in Austria
Completely exasperated, I then abandoned my search for cash - and a coffee - and have been asking myself ever since: where have all the ATMs gone? The fact that there are fewer and fewer of these money-spitting machines in Austria is not just my imagination - more and more ATMs are actually being dismantled. I am interested: Is this trend continuing? Is anything being done about it - if so, what? And why does the debate about the "abolition" of cash always make us so emotional?